The Ministry of Culture (General Directorate of Media and Cultural Industries) and the Digital Agency (Digital Society mission) are joining forces to set up a working group on the issue of digital inclusion in libraries.
By highlighting the diversification of libraries' missions, this interministerial work is positioned at the crossroads of the National Strategy for Digital Inclusion and the "Offer More" component of the Libraries Plan. It follows on from several professional days on the role of libraries in digital inclusion and echoes, more recently, the report by the Défenseur des droits on access to administrative procedures in the age of dematerialization.
DIGITAL INCLUSION IN THE LIBRARY PLAN
The Plan Bibliothèques, launched by the Minister of Culture in 2018, includes several of the proposals from the report Journey to the Land of Libraries". During this journey, the authors of this report, Erik Orsenna and Noël Combin had noted that many Libraries had, on their own initiative, and often in conjunction with local authorities, undertaken to address audiences "in difficulty with digital".In their report, they had recommended to integrate and involve Libraries in the national plan for digital inclusion. "Libraries must be part of it, as they are already (and will be even more tomorrow) at the heart of the city policy. What and who do we need to reduce this divide? Places, connected equipment, trained mediators and the means to reach and bring in those 20% of the population who are excluded from Internet access. No angelism on this subject: for these questions which touch on exclusion, the offer does not create the demand. We must go to the people and then make them come ... The wifi access and multimedia stations available in thousands of facilities are a valuable resource for the success of the Government Plan for Digital Inclusion.
"OPEN MORE"
The first phase of the Library Plan, " Open More", aimed to help communities provide better access to the greatest number of people by significantly improving library opening hours and universal accessibility to all.231 communities were supported in expanding their library hours in 2018, for an average of eight additional hours of operation per week.
"OFFER MORE SERVICES"
Continuing the partnership between the State and local authorities, the Minister of Culture is implementing, in 2019, a second component: "offering more services."Libraries have already begun this second transformation, which must be amplified. Of course, they continue to provide access to knowledge and information. They are involved in digital mediation and homework support, helping our fellow citizens with their administrative procedures or their job search. They work with other partners, associations or local public services, and reinvent themselves through participatory dialogue with residents.This second act of the Library Plan is structured around three areas of transformation for public reading:
- libraries, attractive and welcoming places: renovate spaces, modernize them and connect them better;
- libraries, a local public service: support the action of departmental policies and encourage the sharing of libraries with other public services;
- Libraries, actors of social inclusion: promote digital inclusion and actions in the social field.
It also sets a number of priorities for library transformation projects. These include:
- Training and self-training: services developed by libraries and the strengthening of the presence of associations: "Transformation projects could integrate services such as training (homework help, adult courses), self-training, support for returning to work, learning French as a foreign language, and the fight against illiteracy. To this end, the DRACs will set up support units with local authorities, bringing together the players around the library project and offering engineering assistance.
- Citizenship:"Digital modules and practical training workshops on "fake news" and more generally on information literacy will be offered by the DRACs in at least 3 libraries per department and at least one library per city of 100,000 inhabitants."
- Strengthen equal access to online resources: "Libraries have a leading role to play in digital mediation. It will therefore be necessary to encourage the development of digital support spaces or resources within them, in line with other digital inclusion initiatives carried out in the territories.
- Local cultural public service centers: "The ambition is to support local authorities who wish to do so so that 10 million people benefit from these new local cultural public service centers throughout the country. Pooling between libraries, digital spaces and public service centers will be encouraged.
LIBRARIES IN THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR DIGITAL INCLUSION
Without specific action, this strategy mentioned libraries and strategy mentioned libraries and media libraries as stakeholders in digital inclusion.A variety of actors are in contact with these people who have difficulty with the digital world: solidarity organizations, public agents, volunteers or employees, community and popular education actors, media and library agents, postal workers, police officers, civic services, local elected officials, etc.The first observation that emerges from the various contributions is the involvement of certain organizations and structures in digital inclusion, even though this is not their main mission. These actors are directly confronted with the difficulties encountered by the public in the digital field. Through their missions, they often have a detailed knowledge of the reality of the inhabitants and their familiarity with digital technology. Acting for an inclusive digital world implies federating and uniting all stakeholders (the State, including decentralized actors, public service operators, local authorities, social action, solidarity, proximity and integration actors, digital support professionals, including public digital spaces, libraries and media libraries, third places, economic actors, foundations) in a common action.OPENING OF A CONSULTATION
The Ministry of Culture and the Agence du Numérique have opened a contributory forum to accompany and feed the work of the group which will meet during three thematic meetings:- Theme 1: Defining the role and missions of libraries in digital inclusion: from a heterogeneous positioning of institutions to a common roadmap? (May 2019)
- Theme 2: Identification and contact with target audiences: from needs assessment to orientation or support (July 2019)
- Theme 3: Training and professionalization of digital inclusion actors in libraries: complementarity between library professionals and digital mediators (September 2019)
Library professionals, digital mediation actors, elected officials, associations and users can contribute to this public forum.
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